The invention concerns communication networks, in particular those of the GSM type, the acronym for the English expression “Global System for Mobile Communication”, and more particularly in this field a method for detecting, in a communication apparatus connected to the communication network, the exceeding of a saturation threshold of one or more files or applications.
To a new subscriber to a communication network, for example of the GSM type, there is supplied a mobile communication apparatus containing an electronic smart card known by the expression “SIM card”, SIM being the acronym of the English expression “Subscriber Identity Module”. This SIM card is personalised so as to enable the subscriber to have access to various applications to which he has subscribed.
The present invention is intended for appliances containing a SIM card corresponding to the “SIM Toolkit phases 2 et seq” standard, and thus able to receive and send short so-called SMS (standing for “Short Message Service”) messages.
Such a SIM card can contain the various data processing elements for implementing applications, mobile banking or games for example, and/or files for recording certain information such as a telephone directory or a collection of messages received.
As the mobile communication apparatus is used, the applications and files take up more and more space on the SIM card: this is because new applications or improved versions of existing applications are added, of larger size and more demanding in terms of memory resource, “results” data files are obtained issuing from larger and larger applications, and more and more directory data and SMS messages are stored.
Finally, a saturation threshold of the working memory of the particular applications or files is exceeded, which risks causing a problem for the user of the apparatus, and it is important to detect and indicate this state of affairs to him as soon as possible and to offer him at least one solution.
For reasons of simplicity, the terms “saturation” or “saturation threshold” will be used indifferently but under no circumstances should their interpretation be restricted solely to the detection of the full memory state.